"Cheap Smokes" at Greek National Opera Alternative Stage

After a series of sold-out performances, the GNO Alternative Stage’s hit Cheap Smokes, a “romantic operetta” in 34 scenes and 19 songs, returns for 24 more shows. The widely celebrated film by Renos Haralambidis, an ode to empty summer Athens, was adapted into a musical by composer Panayotis Kalantzopoulos, librettist Petros Vouniseas and stage director Konstantinos Rigos, filling the Alternative Stage with worn phone cards, cigarette butts, random meetings, kisses that never found their way and gorgeous songs for unrequited loves and moment collectors.

Composer Panayotis Kalantzopoulos adds 18 new songs to the original soundtrack, while Konstantinos Rigos’ atmospheric direction portrays the sensual core of this sui generis slacker movie with film noir elements through a masterly use of space, condensing the locations of the original script around a versatile, hallucinogenic lounge.

Of vital importance is the live onstage presence of the film’s director and screenwriter Renos Haralambidis as the narrator, encapsulating the aesthetic venture of a show that takes the form of a flash-back between two time zones: here, the central character, an Athenian flâneur (portrayed in the original film by Haralambidis himself), is torn between his past and present self, casting a glance at once nostalgic and critical toward the transition –which defined both the hero and the city– from languid post-adolescence to maturity and from the 20th to the 21st century.

Book: Petros Vouniseas, based on Renos Haralambidis’ film of the same title
Stage director, movement coach, set designer: Konstantinos Rigos
Costume, fabric & upholstery designer: Apostolos Mitropoulos
Lighting designer: Perikles Mathiellis
Associate architect: Mary Tsangari
Video designer: Vassilis Kehagias

Cast: Renos Haralambidis, Idra Kayne, Sofia Kourtidou, Nikos Lekakis, Dimitris Nalbandis, Alexandros Psihramis, Christina Stefanidi, Paris Thomopoulos, Takis Vamvakidis, Athina Vrouva

Stavros Lantsias, Orestis Petrakis (8, 9,15,16, 22, 29/12 & 5/1) piano, Andreas Polyzogopoulos, Spiros Chatzikaleas (16, 28/2) trumpet, Christos Rafailidis vibraphone, Giorgos Palamiotis electric bass, Christos Vigos, Thanasis Tsakirakis (18/12) drums, percussion, Panayotis Kalantzopoulos guitars, ukulele The film by Renos Haralambidis, was adapted into a musical by composer Panayotis Kalantzopoulos, librettist Petros Vouniseas and director Konstantinos Rigos.

Ticket Details

Ticket prices:: 15€, 20€
Students: 10€

The presale will start on 29 July 2022 and will take place at the GNO Box Office and ticketservices.gr.